Tag Archives: episode 8 news

Today, while stuck in a boring synergy meeting, Stormtrooper Larry wandered over to the ol’ spam site again, to see its penetrating insights on Star Wars Episode VIII.

Here’s what we found.

We may well be years clear of the release of Star Wars Episode VIII, however as The Pressure Awakens taught us, that point can fly earlier in no time.

Little is understood approximately what VIII’s tale will cling, however we do recognize that it’s going to pick out up immediately after The Drive Awakens, with Rey having found out Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts, as showed by way of the teaser trailer.

Clearly this bot has memory issues. Which is it: The Pressure Awakens or The Drive Awakens? Next thing you’ll be saying it’s The Exertion Rouses!

Profound questions

Despite the bot’s dementia, it was insightful enough to ask penetrating questions:

The Drive Awakens left many questions unanswered. Who’s Rey in reality? Is Finn Drive delicate? What is with C-3PO’s pink arm? Why is R2-D2, the bearer of all wisdom who refuses to inform any person anything else, this sort of dick?

So in the intervening years between The Pressure Awakens and Episode VIII, it seems Threepio’s arm has changed from red to pink. That prissy droid changes arms like a handbag.

Forget about whether Finn is Force sensitive… the real question is: is he Drive delicate? And more importantly, why is R2-D2 such a goddawful dick? Those are the hard-hitting questions that fans demand to know, Abrams!

I swear Artoo, you’re such a dick!

A pleasurable solution to Rey

Colin Trevorrow, who will probably be directing Episode IX, has already promised us a “profoundly pleasurable” solution to the thriller surrounding Rey’s oldsters.

“Rey is a personality that may be essential on this universe, now not simply within the context of The Pressure Awakens, however in all of the galaxy,” he stated. “She merits it. We’re going to be sure that that solution is one thing that feels love it used to be one thing that came about a very long time in the past, a long way away, and we are simply telling you what came about.”

While we don’t understand a single word about the solution to Rey’s oldsters, we’re thrilled to know it will be a “profoundly pleasurable” one. In fact, we feel a disturbance in the Pressure, as if a million voices sighed with anticipation, from Reywalkers to Reynobis.

Torn between the darkness and the sunshine

The Drive Awakens ended with a wounded Kylo Ren being taken to Very best Chief Snoke to finish his coaching – however what does that imply?

We think one of the most movie will display Luke coaching Rey, reminiscent of his personal coaching from Yoda in The Empire Moves Again. It is going to even be fascinating to peer how Kylo Ren’s personality develops. He simply murdered his personal father, however he is nonetheless conflicted among the darkish aspect and the sunshine – or used to be Han’s dying the general a part of his transition to Sith?

Well if you ask us, Stormtrooper Larry thinks that Ben’s “simple murder” of his personal father cemented him into the darkish part of the Pressure.

We also think that Very best Chief Snoke isn’t a Sith (they became extinct in Recurrence of the Jedi), but that guy surely ain’t part of the sunshine.

Today, Stormtrooper Larry sat down with KY10REY to find out more about the film. Whether his claims are true or not, we leave up to you.

We’ve reserved the juiciest stuff at the end.

Who is KY10REY?

He first appeared in February 2016, when principal photography for Episode VIII started. KY10REY claims to be part of the production crew at Pinewood Studios with insider knowledge of the film’s progress.

Why should we listen to him?

KY10REY seems to have advance knowledge of what Space Bear Industries, the front name for Episode VIII, is up to.

Last March, he posted the scouting sets for the Ireland leg of the shoot, a full two months before it happened:

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Then in early May, he announced that Adam Driver was going to join Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley in Ireland for the Ahch-To shoot, and even broke down their scenes by location.

Adam did arrive one week later on May 13:

With that out of the way, let’s get to the juicy stuff. Here’s the exclusive intel from KY10REY.

On Jedi History 1.1

A fair number of readers have commented on the poor prose and scriptwriting, with one commenting that “if this is a leak, it sounds like it was transcribed or overheard.”

That’s because it is — it came from a storyboard. KY10REY says “phones, cameras and tablets are not allowed… but pen and paper are”. He was actually writing down what he saw from memory as best as he could.

The tree on Ahch-To is really old, “even older than the Jedi”

“If you look at the tree from a vertical aspect, it’s actually not complete.” That’s because he claims that “most static items are just reference holders for ILM”. Presumably, the tree will be enhanced, or even have its appearance changed outright through VFX.

On the Ireland filming

The shooting schedule included a 4-day safety window in case they ran into inclement weather

Thankfully, the notoriously uncooperative Irish climate turned out to be good, so much so that “we had to use our poor weather truck”

This specialized vehicle was probably designed to create rain effects, during what we presume is the climactic battle between Luke and Rey and the Knights of Ren (which KY10REY can’t confirm or deny)

The waterfall at Malin Head will make a brief appearance, though parts of the scene are actually NOT shot in Ireland but someplace else (we’ll cover this in a future article)

Right after wrapping up in Ireland, part of the crew were sent to Germany and Italy to scout locations for the next movie, the Han Solo anthology film.

What’s happening now

Filming is back in the UK, although whether in Pinewood or other locations KY10REY won’t say

One of the scenes in the past week required a lot of pyrotechnics, which caused complaints among locals

The schedule this week has been so intense that an extra rest day was ordered, “that’s why Mark (Hamill) was mostly silent on Monday and Tuesday, but pretty active today”

There will be a break in filming come July so certain cast members can attend Star Wars Celebration in London

What we can expect

Despite director Rian Johnson’s home stretch post, the film has “several miles left to go”

The official wrap-up party for the production crew is still two months away

Rey had 42 minutes in The Force Awakens, but almost double the screen-time for Episode VIII

And the really juicy nuggets:

Expect the Episode VIII title reveal in the first week of November

The Rogue One main trailer will drop four weeks after the title reveal

There will also be a brief (2-second) teaser for Episode VIII

There were on-set rumors of more trees and seeds being taken to different planets, as well as mentions of Ben Kenobi. However “we are not filming any of that, so if true they must be for something else, like a backstory or tie-in comic.”

Note: In the past hour, several readers have asked why the Rogue One trailer is debuting too close to the movie, rather than during Star Wars Celebration. The key word is main trailer. TFAalso had several trailers, but the most complete one (the international version) dropped on December 9, 2015, a mere one week before the movie itself.

Our guess is, shorter domestic trailers are used to generate hype in North America, where Star Wars is already familiar. However, for other regions where the franchise isn’t a cultural phenomenon (like China), Disney has a longer version. The newer, longer cut also helps sustain the momentum in the US, since it features extra footage not seen by American viewers. Anyway, we’ll just ask KY10REY about it when he’s able to sneak out once more.

Finally, KY10REY says he gets asked a lot about Luke and Rey, but not newcomer Kelly Marie Tran, known on set as “Pocket Rocket”.

Why should we pay more attention to her?

“Because her character will have a pivotal role towards the end. Her role was rewritten to increase screen time.”

We have more intel from our secret rendezvous, but Stormtrooper Larry has to get back to work (damn Powerpoint slides won’t do themselves). We’ll reserve those for another post if our alleged Bothan insider gives the green light.

KY10REY will release the next installment, Jedi History 2.1, before the end of June. So stay tuned!

UPDATE: For readers in the UK, the Metro newspaper will be publishing their own interview in tomorrow’s issue. Scoop a copy and see if they have different intel.

It turns out there is a Lucasfilm licensed painting of Rey, curiously entitled “Rey Skywalker”:

The painting is the work of Rodel Gonzalez, a Filipino artist licensed by the Lucasfilm group to produce authorized art. His work has been featured in San Diego Comic-Con and other major events.

The painting itself, a 14″ x 11″ canvas entitled “Rey Skywalker” has a list price of USD $2,600. It’s currently on display at the Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila, the Philippines, alongside Gonzalez’s exhibit of other Star Wars and Disney artworks.

“It is an original so there is no COA [Cert of Authenticity]. [These] are given to those submitted and catalogued for reproduction as limited editions. This painting is a stand alone original and a study work of the artist. As for the title, it is named Rey and not Rey Skywalker so it’s a small error we’ll correct.“

So that puts an end to the dreams of the Reywalker theory being outed by licensing. Although it should be noted that many Star Wars plot leaks do come from merchandising, just not this time.

The Hawaii-based Gonzalez has been producing licensed interpretative art for Disney since 2008. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, he was invited to be part of ACME Archives Ltd, the exclusive publishing arm for Star Wars art. He signed aboard in 2015 and has focused on Star Wars since.

According to Pablo Hidalgo, only a few people in the Lucasfilm Story Group are aware of the full story arc. And more interestingly, in a since-deleted Twitter conversation this week, he relayed how the storyline of the new trilogy is planned “years in advance”, unlike the contradictory twists of the old EU. (We wanna find the tweet, but it’s Saturday and the couch is too comfy).

So it’s highly unlikely that LFL licensees would be privy to Rey’s lineage. In an interview last month, not even the Oscar-nominated editor behind The Force Awakens knew who Rey’s parents are.

Update (June 12, 8 pm EST):

Here’s Pablo Hidalgo’s sly Twitter reaction to the whole thing:

The deepest plot secrets are known only to third party online vendors, Hot Wheels toy makers, and work-for-hire freelance artists.

“Do you know they’re going to film all this month in Las Vegas in the desert for Jakku scenes? So do you think this will be the final third act of the film?”

– James Wright, Virginia

James’ belief is a familiar tune.

Last March, it was speculated that Star Wars: Episode VIII will be filming in Las Vegas. Making Star Wars reported that director Rian Johnson and crew were scouting locations west of Las Vegas, ostensibly to represent:

the desert landscape of Jakku, or

the reported casino scene that Luke and Rey will visit

A number of websites also referenced this tidbit from Clancy Report, a dubious site that didn’t cite any sources for its info:

Writer and director Rian Johnson is said to have personally chosen the location and will need the help of an extraordinarily large number of extras from Las Vegas and the surrounding area. Reports claim that a big reason in choosing to film in Nevada is that the state has recently been providing significant incentives to production companies that choose to film in their state.

Today, in response to a US fan asking about extras, director Rian Johnson took to Twitter to deny shooting not just in Vegas, but anywhere in the States:

The production epicenter of Star Wars is currently Pinewood Studios in London. Episode VIII is now filming there, while Rogue One will start the reshoots next month. After that, the massive soundstages will be the home of young Han Solo come January.

Some of the work for Episode VIII has been outsourced to Longcross Studios in Surrey, home of the life-size Falcon and Ahch-To set. The Daily Mail and other outlets mistook it for Pinewood, and the set has suffered numerous break-ins from intrepid spies and urban explorers. Also involved in Episode VIII production is Imaginarium Studios, a digital studio specializing in motion-capture scenes founded by Andy Serkis (who also plays Snoke).

Episode VIII was also rumored to be scouting locations in Iceland, as well as caves in Mexico. However, Rian may have resolved the latter by building his own cave/cliff/granite mountainside in Pinewood last week:

So no, James from Virginia, it seems like Episode VIII won’t be coming stateside. Though it would be nice if the rumored “binary sunset” scene would be shot in Death Valley, as a throwback to A New Hope!